


A Swiftly Tilting Galaxy

by The_Last_Kenobi



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Gen, Master & Padawan Relationship(s), The Clone Wars - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:06:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26765509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Last_Kenobi/pseuds/The_Last_Kenobi
Summary: Anakin Skywalker doesn't crash - and when he does, he does it in style.Usually accompanied by a groaning Master, a snarky Padawan, and a very tired second-in-command.
Relationships: Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano, CT-7567 | Rex & Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker
Comments: 10
Kudos: 57





	A Swiftly Tilting Galaxy

**Author's Note:**

> Struggling to write the next chapters of my two ongoing fics, so I pulled this out of the vault and polished it up, for anyone who might be interested.

Anakin Skywalker gave a loud, bellowing _whoop_ of excitement as he locked his starfighter into a tight dive, straight down towards the surface of Ryloth, the ground speeding towards him in a blur—so much more real and imminent and threatening than the distant stars he was usually hurtling at—a dust-and-green plane that could flatten him into an Anakin-pancake if he crashed.

But he wouldn’t.

General Skywalker didn’t crash, and when he did, he did it with style—no matter what Obi-Wan had to say about it.

Or Ahsoka.

Or Windu.

Or Rex.

Or Luminara.

Or Cody.

Or Kix.

Or—well, anyone.

Anakin knew he could fly, and he could fly like _hell_.

“Master!”

He craned his neck all the way up to see his Padawan in her own starfighter, diving parallel to him but a little slower, her face sliding quickly out of his view, her blue eyes wide. He laughed loudly into the comms.

“Master,” Ahsoka complained. “Pull up!”

“But Snips, this is the fastest way to the ground! You know the shortest route between two points is a straaaaaaaight line,” he said, speeding up even further as he did. The starfighter was shaking now with the force of his speed, which even he knew was a little bit too much. Little bit.

“Yeah, and the fastest route to getting yourself killed!” the young Togruta shouted, but he could hear her fond, exasperated grin. He loved that grin. His small, unasked for but absolutely marvelous Padawan. Why had he ever thought he didn’t want an apprentice? “Angle your dive!” she said bossily.

“I _am_ angled. The angle is a ninety-degree angle.”

“General!” Rex yelled, clearly listening in from his position onboard the destroyer. “Don’t make me come down there after you.”

“Aw, Rex. I didn’t know you cared.” Anakin laughed and slowed down, but did not adjust his course.

"Maybe I don't," Rex grunted, and Anakin could just picture him with his arms folded, rubbing his forehead and shaking his head. Poor Captain. Maybe Anakin should try and coordinate another three-day leave with some of Rex's closest, like Jesse and Fives, Cody and Boil. That would be a nice break. " _Maybe_ ," Rex continued, "I'm just wary of the wrath of General Kenobi, who will be very upset with me if I let you splatter yourself across Ryloth."

Hmph. Maybe Rex didn't deserve a break. 

Ahsoka groaned at the good-natured sniping and pulled up, her small fighter blipping across his scanners as she shot off in the direction she needed to go—directly towards the canyon where the battle droids were waiting. Anakin had a different goal—and first, he was going to have some fun. If he had his way, the whole thing would be fun.

“Be careful out there, Ahsoka!” he called.

There was only silence.

Anakin frowned.

The ground was so close now. Only seconds left until he would need to pull out of his dive, and fast—

“Ahsoka? Hey! Ahsoka!”

Silence.

“Rex! Find the Commander!” he ordered.

“Yes, sir,” said Rex.

Anakin felt relieved—and disturbed. Something inside him quivered, making him nauseous, making him cold.

He wanted to reach out along the training bond to find his apprentice, but something, _something_ told him that that was a bad idea.

And since when did Rex call him “sir?” The last time he had done that was…Ventress. Rex had been captured, he had nearly _died_.

“Rex?” he called again.

Ryloth was so close now, and that excitement was filling him again, that adrenaline. It relieved him. He could control this. He could fly like hell. Nothing escaped him when he flew.

“ _Rex!_ ”

“Sir?”

Anakin’s brow furrowed. Rex didn’t sound like himself, and Ahsoka was gone—if Ventress had hurt them, if anyone was hurting them, threatening them—

He needed to be patient.

Patience was deadly, he knew. He had seen it. In Obi-Wan, in all the Jedi, even in the Sith. Patience yielded rewards.

He yanked up on the controls and his starfighter soared like a bird, air buffeting underneath its wings, sending him bouncing for a few moments as he leaned away from the hard soil and began gliding close to the surface, heading for the opposite end of the canyon from where his apprentice was meant to be. He would find her.

He would find her.

And figure out what the hell went wrong with Rex.

There!

Anakin saw her.

Ahsoka, standing with her back to him—just standing there, on the edge of the canyon, perfectly still. She was a vibrant, striking figure, standing all alone, so very near the edge of the precipice with nobody to pull her back -

A rush of pure _anger_ ran through Anakin.

Was she being controlled, manipulated? 

Why the hell was she just standing there…

Suddenly facing him, lightsabers drawn, a look of grim determination on her face?

He stepped out of his starfighter and raised his unlit saber in a salute.

How dare she? How dare she betray him, and all the troops, and the government which they served? If she had just _stayed_ with him, everything would have been fine.

“Master,” she greeted him, and she did not sound pleased to see him.

He didn’t strike out at her.

He did not cut her down.

Instead, he feinted his saber-hand, and with his other hand, used the Force to shove her off the cliff at breakneck speed.

The apprentice fell without so much as a scream.

“Sweep the area for the traitor,” he ordered over the comms, every breath a struggle. “I have other things to attend to.”

“Good soldiers follow orders,” Rex monotoned.

Darth Vader turned on his heel and swept back to his fighter, thrumming with power, with conviction.

Ahsoka should not have abandoned him, turned her back on him, given up her chance to help him. She had, though. She had betrayed him, and out of the four other people he had truly been close to…

Kenobi had betrayed him to his face, flagrantly thrown his callous disregard in Vader’s face and attempted to kill him.

Palpatine had been deformed and tortured at the hands of the same filthy organization at whose feet Kenobi had worshipped.

Padmé…had chosen to trust Kenobi over her exalted and adoring husband, and had suffered a just fate—not the one he would have given her, _no_ , he was gracious; he would have _spared_ her, but the Force had served justice upon his wife, stolen her away from his saving embrace.

And Rex—hm. Where was Rex, anyway? Did it really matter?

Not really.

Vader blinked slowly, and when he opened his eyes, he was inside his capsule, watching the doors open horizontally, ready to unleash himself once again as the Force’s chosen instrument of justice. The Emperor’s chosen one, the Force’s chosen one.

Vader rose to his feet.

If something inside him—with a name, a _not-a-slave-a-person_ ’s name—sighed as the memory of his strange dream and its beginning, the Sith Lord did not acknowledge it.

They shouldn’t have left him.

And, solitary, he marched out to do his duty.


End file.
